


Falling For You

by Godsliltippy



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: F/M, Pen and Ink Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27459532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Godsliltippy/pseuds/Godsliltippy
Summary: Gordon would follow Penelope anywhere.
Relationships: Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Falling For You

Only a second. 

A blur of pink leather jacket and black denim. 

No time to think, to consider if he had the right equipment or if the space between them would be too great. 

He didn't think - couldn't think - about anything else but saving her as he leapt over the side of the helicarrier and fell. 

Twenty thousand feet and dropping. 

Gordon had eyes on her instantly, Penelope's blonde curls whipping around her face, arms outstretched towards the structure Havoc had thrown her from. The wind smacked into his own face, reminding him of the lack of helmet and inability to call for help. He ignored it in favor of angling his body to pick up speed. He needed to get to her. That was the only thing that mattered. 

The distance was closing fast - too fast - and he threw his arms out, trying to flatten his body against the rush of air. Too hard and  _ he  _ could kill her and that was unfathomable. 

A little further and their eyes locked, the terror in her wide blue softening at his presence. As though reading his intentions, Penelope worked to offer as much surface resistance as her form could allow. 

Diving again, slower this time, Gordon reached out, aiming to catch her in his arms.

They hit, harder than he would have liked and it sent them spinning through the air, the momentum shaking her from his hold. For a brief moment, he thought he'd lost her. It was heart stopping and plummeted his blood into his gut, threatening to send his lunch upwards. 

Their hands caught, iron and sure as earth and sky blended into a swirl of blue, green, and gray. Gordon could only focus on Penelope and the fingers curled in the blue of his gloves. A spike of terror through his heart, adrenaline pummeling his brain, and it felt like nothing to pull her against him. 

He hadn't saved her, though. They were still falling towards the unforgiving ground in a topsy turvy spin that Gordon desperately wished would stop. 

Seconds ticked on and he flung himself wide, one hand still clinging to Penelope. Muscles tensed in the rush of wind, acting as a break for the unrelenting ride and Gordon positioned himself below the blonde agent. Their eyes met once more, sapphire searching for an answer he didn't have. What could he do? He had nothing left he could offer her, except - 

An embrace, all encompassing, his hand resting in the unruly curls on the back of her head. 

They were going to die.

Together.

Something about that horrible thought felt - appropriate. Gordon couldn't imagine a life without her. Maybe it was caused by years of loss - a six year old watching his mother's casket be lowered into a grave, a teenager watching the explosion on the news when big brothers wouldn't allow the younger ones to see what happened in greater detail. Possibly it was the fact that he would go anywhere she went, the beyond included. 

Whatever feelings he had, they did nothing to slow their progress. Over a minute of descent. It would all be over in half a blink. No pain. Just gone.

Moisture slipped away from behind amber, glistening orange and pink in the sunset. 

A blink to rid himself of the nuisance.

A flash of pink high above, a dot at first, growing exponentially as it sped towards them. Gordon reached out for it, desperate for it to go faster, to reach them before the inevitable. She had the best chance, advanced engines propelling her. 

How much longer, though? 

How many more seconds?

Parker would know, because John would tell him. His brother would know their chances - they had to have a chance, unless Parker was too stubborn to give up. That was likely, the chauffeur willing to defy the law for his charge. The law of gravity had some harsh consequences, however. 

The roar of VTOL cut through the howling wind in his ears and the car jolted, slowing from its nosedive to match their velocity. 

Seconds - only seconds left.

Gordon reached, gecko gloves pulsing to life under his fingertips. 

Fab1 shifted closer.

A finger slid over the side and he held his breath until she edged a inch closer. He sucked in a gasp as his hand clamped down on the metal - and John must've been monitoring his suit, because as soon as the technology found its purchase, Parker pulled back.

There was a time when Gordon could have withstood the forces working against him. He'd carried all four brothers and Kayo once, even managing to swing all seven hundred plus pounds without breaking a sweat. That was before he'd caught a landslide of molten rocks. 

They came to a jaring halt of screaming mechanics, a cry of determination mixed with pain, and finally the harsh breaths of the two outside the vehicle. Through the agony in his shoulder, Gordon did his best to focus on the woman in his arms, her face buried against his neck. He couldn't look down at the fourty or so feet that separated them from the ground, knowing he'd lose what resolve he had to keep Penelope calm. 

"You okay?" His question sounded like a dulled whisper into her hair. 

Fab1 began to lower before she could answer and in too short an amount of time, their feet hit the ground, gecko glove deactivating and sending them crashing to the soft grass. He couldn't hide the yelp as his arm fell to his side. 

Bright blue oceans flashed up at him and he realized he hadn't noticed her lean back, "Gordon?" His name was breathless with worry.

"-'m okay," though Virgil might cart him off for scans later. "Just strained. Coulda been -"

There was no doubt in his mind this whole event could have ended so much worse, but he didn't see reason to voice it. Not when her eyes were watering, pupils blown and cheeks glowing red with the lingering effects of their near death experience. And then she was holding him, or he was holding her. The semantics weren't really necessary. They had each other and they were alive. 

After a moment, Gordon looked up to see Parker standing in the open door of the Rolls Royce, his own concern plastered to his face. The aquanaut flashed him a shaky smile in hopes of relieving the fear, "Good catch, Parker."

The elder man laughed, visibly deflating with the humor offered to him, "Good catch, h'indeed." He stepped around the door and leant down to place a hand on Penelope's shoulder, "Are you alright, M'lady?"

A sniffle against Gordon's neck sent goosebumps over his skin and she pushed herself back up, her hand finding his for that much needed connection, "I'm fine. Thank you, Parker." Accepting the assistance from the ex-thief, she stood, in turn helping encourage Gordon to his feet. 

They were swiftly loaded into the back of Fab1, John hovering in front of them until he was certain they were okay. He'd let them know of Havoc's escape, not that they could do anything about it. They would have to hope the GDF could pin down the Hood's lackeys once more.

Now, Penelope was tucked up against him, the smell of her shampoo filling his senses. The ache in his shoulder had dulled to something more manageable, though he didn't dare move it. 

"Gordon," her words were hushed, only meant for him. "You saved my life."

"I'm pretty sure Parker saved our lives," he smirked, though she couldn't see it above her head. 

"Yes, but you jumped," she sounded exhausted. 

"I did."

"You could have died. There was no certainty Parker would have been there," that was the frightening truth. They'd been lucky.

"Well," what was he supposed to say to that? They were alive, so that should have been all that mattered, but there was a truth hidden behind their luck. It was a thought that left him feeling hollow. "I couldn't lose you."

At the depths in his tone, Penelope turned to catch his gaze, fear making its way through the ebbing of adrenaline, "But you could've died."

"But we didn't," Gordon tried to emphasize. "Tracy Luck is a pretty powerful thing."

He took her slight huff and subsequent snuggle back into his side as acceptance. She didn't press any further, either because she accepted his logic or she understood and wasn't willing to voice it into reality.

Gordon would follow Penelope wherever she went - even if it killed him.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Last entry for Pen and Ink Week 2020! Hope y'all enjoyed! Its been a blast getting to write these!


End file.
